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MONARCH BUTTERFLY RESTORATION Foundation grant funds milkweed habitat for western monarchs Comment By Mark Freeman For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Mark Freeman For the Tidings Posted Sep. 2, 2016 at 4:18 PM By Mark Freeman For the Tidings Posted Sep. 2, 2016 at 4:18 PM » Social News Western monarch butterflies migrating between the Southern Oregon coast and the South Cascades will soon get fresh patches of strategically placed milkweed to create needed habitat on this leg of their storied journey here. A group of public and private entities, led by the Ashland-based Lomakatsi Restoration Project, have landed a $193,000 foundation grant to restore and enhance 300 acres of Western monarch habitat stretched across six sites along key migration paths through Southern Oregon. Milkweed will be grown at the federal government's J. Herbert Stone Nursery in Central Point that will be planted along with milkweed seeds on public and private lands, including several plots already cleared and prepped for other restoration projects, Lomaktsi Executive Director Marko Bey says. Western monarchs' life cycles are closely tied to milkweed. Adult females lay their eggs in milkweed, and the ensuing caterpillars dine solely on milkweed before forming a chrysalis, from which they emerge as the royal-looking orange- and black-winged butterfly. Monarchs produce four generations annually, each one making a portion of the migration between Washington and Idaho through Oregon and down to California and even Mexico. In recent years, private groups like the Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates have cultivated small milkweed patches for butterflies called way stations, "but this is a large-scale restoration effort," says Robert Coffan of SOMA, which joins Lomakatsi and five other public and private entities in this project. Restoration sites include 60 acres of Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest land along the coast, 60 more acres of Forest Service land on the western slopes of the Cascades near Mt. McLoughlin, another 60 acrse at Table Rocks and 120 acres of public and private lands in the Ashland-Colestin area. Some of those lands have already been cleared and prepped as part of other Lomakatsi projects, including the Ashland Forest All-Lands Restoration Project in the Ashland watershed known as AFAR. That was important because the foundation grant did not cover site-preparation work, Bey says. "It was a real plus that we're laying this over other habitat projects," Bey says. Most of the work will be done in early 2017, Bey says. The grant was one of several totaling $3 million doled out by the foundation's Monarch Conservation Fund and the only one targeting western monarch habitat. The lion's share went to the Eastern monarchs and their famously arduous migration journeys. Coffan says Western monarchs generally get stiffed in the funding world. "But we raised the flag a little bit and somebody saw the flag," Coffan says. "I'm happy with it." Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman . By Mark Freeman For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Mark Freeman For the Tidings Posted Sep. 2, 2016 at 4:18 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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